European Commission have declared support for open source

Following the OSEPA appeal and the OPEN SOURCE POLICY STATEMENT intiated by OSEPA Consorcium,
the European Commission has expressed support for the idea of open source implemented by public authorities.
The Commission also appreciated the effort and accomplishments of the OSEPA project. It acknowledges
the benefits of open source and has every intention of supporting open source within the Digital Agenda for Europe.

Greek municipality of Kalamaria switches to LibreOffice

Trying to save costs where possible, the administration of the Greek city of Kalamaria is switching to the free and
open source office suite LibreOffice, the Greek Linux User Group reports in a press release published last Friday. The
volunteer organisation is calling for an alliance,
to pool the expertise of Greek public administrations, research institutes and the country's open source advocacy groups.

Report on critical success factors regarding the use of FOSS by European public administrations on the basis of the OSEPA study visits evidence

This document provides an overview of lessons learned through study visits and experience exchange in the context of the OSEPA project aiming to assess
and facilitate free and open source software (FOSS) uptake in public administrations.

Based on their outcome, it has been shown that success stories in open source can inspire peer organisations and can speed up FOSS uptake when based
on proven effective tools and applications that respond to specific tasks and needs and that can be transferred at minimum cost and effort. What has been
also emphatically stated is that sharing and communicating good practices in open source is the key to ensuring a smoother integration and gaining political
support from higher officials and top managers.

Organisation:District council of the municipality of Alingsås, Alingsås, Västar Götaland, Sweden

In August 2009 the district council of the municipality of Alingsås decided to replace Microsoft Office with
OpenOffice as standard office application and also to adopt ODF and PDF file formats as document formats for
documents in a workflow and for fixed documents respectively.
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FOSS

OSEPA
Project is a European co-funded programme that aims at informing the public
about the perspective and potential use of free/open source software in
European public administrations

The Interregional Cooperation Programme INTERREG IVC, financed by the European Union's Regional Development Fund, helps Regions of Europe work together to share experience and good practice in the areas of innovation, the knowledge economy, the environment and risk prevention.EUR 302 million is available for project funding but, more than that, a wealth of knowledge and potential solutions are also on hand for regional policy-makers.